Back To You
by helenoftroyxo
Summary: To put it in simple terms, Hermione is a Healer, Ron is an Auror. With the war brewing, they're brought back together. Romance forms, Ron supposedly dies, Harry comforts.
1. Prologue

A/N: Okay, first time writing a Hermione/Ron fic... I'll probably mess up a few times, since I'm not really a big fan of the ship, but here I go... Sorry about the short first chapter.

Disclaimer: All HP stuff belongs to JKR...and (you've probably noticed) the idea is from the movie Pearl Harbor :P

Prologue

Fireworks erupted over the Hogwarts lake, and the graduating class whooped and cheered. Everyone was in a relaxed and happy mood; they were finally out of school and off to start their new lives, whatever they may be.

Everyone but three certain students. Their names were Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, and Harry Potter. The three of them, all so different in appearance but similar in heart, stood slightly apart from the throng of excited students. The shadows of the Forbidden Forest hid them from the view of the others.

Hermione was weeping and leaning on Harry for support. "I'll miss you two so much," she sobbed.

Ron awkwardly patted her on the shoulder while running his other hand through his shocking red hair. "Hey, don't worry about it, we'll meet up with you someday. I mean, you're a Healer, we're Aurors, we're bound to meet up sometime."

Harry nodded his agreement. "Ron's right," he said to Hermione, looking over her head to smile gratefully at Ron. "I mean, I'm pretty sure someday one of us will be brought to you on the brink of death and you'll fix us right up."

"That's not funny," Hermione scolded, looking up at her friend with tears streaming down her face. "Don't even say that! You and Ron had better be careful."

"We will be," Ron assured Hermione. He and Harry exchanged amused looks. "Anyway, are you sure this is what you wanted to do, Hermione? Be a Healer? Because you know, you'd make an excellent Auror."

"Yes, this is what I want to do. Anyway, with you two as Aurors, I doubt the world will need any more saving," Hermione answered with a weak smile. She was trying to compose herself and be prudent about the whole situation; after all, Ron was right - their occupations were bound to cross paths eventually.

"Hey, that's the spirit," Harry encouraged. "Don't dwell on it, just look forward."

Hermione sighed. "It's going to be so difficult to adjust to life without seeing you or Ron at least once a day."

Ron smirked. "I know, staying away from me is hard, but you'll manage."

Rolling her eyes, Hermione punched her friend playfully on the shoulder. "Don't let it get to your head," she teased as she wiped the tears off her cheeks.

Harry chuckled and said, "I'll leave you guys alone. I have to go talk to Dumbledore. I'll be back in a bit." He hugged Hermione and nodded at Ron, then walked off, leaving his two friends standing alone.

"So...erm...I expect we'll have time to say our good-byes tomorrow at King's Cross," Ron said in an attempt to break the silence.

"I suppose," Hermione said dully.

"Listen, Hermione, I meant what I said earlier," Ron said seriously. "I promise Harry and I will see you again."

"You're probably right," Hermione said. She smiled inwardly; for the first time, it was Ron comforting her, rather than the other way around. She bit her lip, then said softly, "Thanks, Ron."

He smiled at her sincerely. "You're welcome."

-----

"I guess this is it," Harry said solemnly.

He was standing under the giant clock at King's Cross, leaning on his trolley and looking at his two friends.

Hermione and Ron looked at each other, then nodded. This time, no words were exchanged. The three friends simply stood there, each absorbing every detail of their last moment together.

Suddenly, Hermione burst into tears and threw her arms around Harry and Ron. "I'll miss you both so much," she sobbed.

"Oh Hermione, don't cry again," Ron said in a rather exasperated tone. Nonetheless, he hugged her back.

She withdrew and looked at each of them with tear-filled eyes. "I--" she started to say, but was interrupted by the toll of the 7 o'clock bell.

"Merlin, we have to get going," Harry exclaimed. "Our train leaves at 7:05." He straightened up, then turned his eyes toward Hermione. "Bye, Hermione," he said quietly.

Ron did the same, although his gaze lingered on Hermione a little longer than Harry's had. "Bye," he mumbled.

The two friends then turned around and hurried away to catch the train that would take them away from everything and everyone they had even know, specifically the one person who had affected their lives as much as they had affected hers. Neither of them looked back.

Hermione stood rooted to the ground, watching Harry and Ron jog away. She felt her tears stem as they faded into the distance. _There's no sense in crying,_ she reasoned. _We will meet again._ With this reassuring thought fixed in mind, Hermione grabbed her suitcase and began walking away in the direction opposite of the one her friends had left in.

After that day, she never heard from them once, nor them from her. Both sides became very successful in what they did, therefore leaving them little time to write. However, fate has an uncanny way of bringing together the people who were meant to stay together. Years later, Hermione found this out for herself.


	2. One Surprise After Another

Chapter 1: One Surprise After Another

"Ron Weasley!" Hermione Granger exclaimed, hardly daring to believe her eyes. She blinked twice, then looked back down at the list of names she held in her hands. There it was, plain and simple. Ron Weasley. Her best friend back when she was a student at Hogwarts.

Hermione shook her head slowly. It wasn't like she was upset, more like shocked. The two of them had parted on good terms, but that was 9 years ago. She was now 26, and hadn't heard from Ron or her other best friend, Harry, since she had last seen them walking away to their new lives as Aurors while she walked in the opposite direction toward her chosen career, a Healer. As the thought of Harry jumped to her mind, her eyes scanned down the list and, not to her surprise, found the name "Harry Potter" right underneath Ron's.

Feeling a little faint at this news, Hermione sat down on a nearby chair and tried to clear her mind. _It's been 9 years, they probably won't even recognize you,_ she thought in an attempt to reassure herself. _You have nothing to worry about._

However, her thoughts didn't entirely convince her. Sure, she had changed both physically and mentally, but they had been so close back at Hogwarts that she would be insulted if they didn't recognize her. Now, she began to wonder whether or not they would look the same. Would Ron still have the same mop of shocking red hair and freckles? Would Harry still wear the same round-rimmed glasses, held together by miles of tape?

Just then, a knock at the door interrupted her. "Come in," she called out, snapping out of her reverie.

The door swung open and in walked a tall man, so tall that he had to stoop as he moved through the doorway, with bright red hair. As he entered the room, he straightened up and smiled at Hermione. A split second later, his smile quickly dropped and his jaw fell open.

"Hermione!" he exclaimed, stepping back.

Hermione froze. _Oh no, it can't be him. I didn't expect him so soon._

"R-R-Ron," she stuttered, at a loss of words.

He hardly looked like Ron. His hair was a few shades darker, and it was sticking out in clumps. His freckles seemed to have magically disappeared, and he was about a foot taller. His voice was much more manly, as was his build. The only physical traits that seemed to have carried over from his childhood were his bright blue eyes. At the moment, they were staring at her in disbelief.

"You're my Healer?" he finally asked.

Hermione nodded silently.

"Merlin..." he said, more to himself than to Hermione. "I can't believe it."

"I can't either," she remarked dryly.

"I never would have expected," he continued, apparently unaware that Hermione had said anything, "when I came here that I would get YOU as a Healer."

"Well apparently you did, so sit down," Hermione replied, gesturing at the clean hospital bed at the other end of the room. She couldn't think of any other way to handle the situation than to turn to business. "Are you here for a checkup or--"

Ron chuckled and interrupted her mid-sentence by saying, "Hermione, calm down. You can take a break from your job to at least reminisce a bit with an old friend." He sat down and patted the spot next to him. "Sit down."

Hermione bit her lip. "Ron, I have other patients I have to--"

He rolled his eyes. "You're going to put other patients before me? Come on, I haven't seen you in years. Don't I at least deserve a little friendly attention?"

Giving in, Hermione grudgingly walked over to his side of the room and sat down gingerly next to him on the bed. The first thing she noticed was that he smelled like catnip. Without thinking, she burst out laughing.

"What?" he asked, surprised.

"You...you have a...you have a cat, don't you?" she asked through her giggles.

The tips of his ears turned bright red, signaling his embarrassment. "Well, I figured after Scabbers turned out to be You-Know-Who's servant, cats weren't so bad after all."

"So that means...?" Hermione prompted.

"No, it does NOT mean that I'm fine with Crookshanks. That ball of fur is still a menace. Speaking of, how is he?"

"He's...dead," Hermione said quietly.

Ron's eyebrows shot up, and he quickly said, "I'm sorry! I didn't mean it like that. I had no idea..."

She sighed and replied, "It's okay. He died 2 years ago, so I've grown to accept it now. Anyway, he had his share of fun while he was alive."

"Yeah," Ron said, seeming deep in thought. "Remember Sirius and how Crookshanks knew he was the good one?"

Hermione nodded. "And how he knew Scabbers was not to be trusted."

"Now that I think about it, I was an idiot for not believing you back then."

Hermione smiled weakly. She couldn't think of anything to say in response, so she nervously clasped her hands and hoped that he would strike up the conversation again. However, he seemed comfortable with sitting next to her in silence, so she was left to awkwardly start twisting a strand of hair around her finger.

"So, um, you're in for a checkup right?" she at last asked.

"Yep."

"Okay, I'll just have you drink these--" she walked over to the table where she filled in three small cups with different coloured liquids, then brought them back to Ron "--then I'll give you an eye exam, and you should be fine after that."

He shrugged, and drank the potions she gave him obediently. His facial features twisted into a grimace as he downed the last one, a bright green liquid which was supposed to keep him immune from any sicknesses he might get from living in poor conditions, but made no comment. He also passed the eye exam with flying colours, and was soon proclaimed good to go.

Though Hermione had told him that he could leave, Ron lingered in the room. She was unaware of his continuing presence as she cleaned up after him, but when she had rinsed out the last cup and placed it neatly on top of the others, he coughed to signal that he was still in the room.

Turning around in surprise, Hermione raised an eyebrow when she saw that he was still standing by the door. His hands were in the pockets of his robes, and for the first time since he walked into the room, he looked uncomfortable.

"Yes?" she asked, crossing her arms.

"Erm...Hermione...I was wondering...well, I have Sunday free, my group leader is practicing with the Aurors who have had less training than me - see, I'm the best Auror he has, so I always get free days, plus I--"

"Ron, is there anything you wanted to say?" Hermione asked, interrupting his rambling.

He coughed, and hurriedly said, "Right, well, I was wondering if you wanted to come have dinner with me Sunday evening. To, y'know, catch up on old times."

"I don't know...I have a lot of work I have to do here," Hermione said uneasily.

His face fell. "Come on, Hermione, just one night?"

Unable to resist his pleading, she felt her resolution to not go crumble. After all, one night couldn't hurt. "Okay," she said with a small smile. "I'll go. What time?"

Ron grinned. "I'll come here and pick you up."

"Can't I just apparate there?" Hermione asked, confused.

"No, I have something else planned." With that, he politely nodded his farewell, and left the room.

Hermione leaned against the counter for support. Now that she was alone again, a stunning realization hit her -- Ron was going to war. If he was the best Auror of his group, then there was no way his leader wouldn't order him to go into combat.

_If Ron goes,_ she suddenly realized, _then Harry is for sure going to go too._

At that moment, the door to the room opened once again. For the second time that day, a voice exclaimed in surprise, "Hermione!"

Smiling wearily, Hermione turned around, causing her eyes to meet with familiar bright green ones. "Hello, Harry."


	3. Soaring

A/N: Mind you, I'm going to skip right past Hermione and Harry's encounter because it isn't all that important anyway. Also, I know the whole thing between her and Ron is really quick, but I'm not really concentrating on the beginning of their relationship, more on the second half of it. Plus, the movie spent about .00005 seconds on Rafe and Evelyn meeting and falling in love, so it's only fair that I spend 2 or 3 chapters :P

Chapter 2: Soaring

7:00 PM.

Hermione sighed and averted her eyes from the clock that hung above her desk. She had no idea when Ron was coming, nor where he was taking her, but she was anticipating his arrival with an eagerness so great that she herself couldn't even understand why. All she knew was that the hours of the day had passed by more slowly than usual, as they often seem to do for those who would rather they speed up.

To pass the time, Hermione reached over to a pile of neatly stacked documents and took the top one. Placing it under light of the lamp overhead, she began to read about Harry's ranking in his group (it was, coincidentally, the one Ron belonged to). A few minutes later, she was surprised to find that he was second only to Ron.

_This must be a great ego-booster for Ron; it's about time he beat Harry in something,_ she thought in something of a proud manner.

"What are you looking at?" came a voice from next to her right ear.

"Ron!" she shrieked in surprise, placing a hand over her heart in fright and turning to her old friend. "You scared me!"

He chuckled. "Mission accomplished!"

"It's not funny!" protested Hermione, although she couldn't help but smile as her momentary surprise faded away. As she leaned back for a better look at Ron, her smile widened. He looked like the perfect gentlemen; his hair combed back neatly and he was wearing a muggle suit, complete with a tie. She couldn't remember ever seeing him dressed up, and it was a nice change.

Ron noticed her examining him, and raised an eyebrow. "Yes?" he said in a feminine voice, crossing his arms in an attempt to mimic Hermione's response to his lingering the other day.

"Very funny," Hermione said. "Why aren't you wearing your robes?"

"Figured I'd wear something special for tonight," he replied with a grin. "We should probably get going. I don't want you to break your curfew or anything if we lose track of time."

Hermione simply shot a mock-glare at him and stood up. "Let's go," she said, straightening the dress robes she had donned for the occasion. With one last glance at the small mirror that hung on the wall opposite her, she took Ron's offered arm and the two of them strolled out of the hospital.

Once they were out of the building, Hermione took a deep breath and let it out. "It feels so nice to be outside. It seems like I'm always inside these days, attending to a patient or whatnot. I rarely get the time to go out."

"You were always devoted to your work," Ron commented in a somewhat admiring tone.

Hermione shrugged modestly. "My job is my life," she said quietly. "I've just about lost contact with everyone I knew back at Hogwarts; the only people I talk to are the other Healers here and that's strictly business. I've almost forgotten what it's like to have a normal, social life."

"Well, we're holding a non-business conversation right now, aren't we?" Ron asked jokingly. A more serious expression fell over his features, and he added, "You have to learn to loosen up, Hermione. I mean, it's great that you're committed to what you do and everything, but there are times where you just have to do what you want to do and not what's required of you."

"But I want to do this," Hermione argued back. "It's just that it's a big time commitment."

"Are you sure you want to do this?" he asked softly.

She looked over at him in surprise. "What do you mean?"

"Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that you don't love being a Healer," he hastily said. "But you act like you'd really like to go out and see the world rather than be stuck in the office all the time."

"I guess that would be nice..." Hermione said slowly.

"See?" he said triumphantly. "I know you better than anyone. What to you say to starting a more relaxed life here right now?"

"Oh, but Ron--"

"Don't 'but' me," he scolded in a manner so much like his mother would have done that Hermione's protest died on her lips. "Just do it."

Hermione opened her mouth again to say something, but at that moment, her eyes caught sight of a shower of shooting stars over Ron's shoulder. She gasped and pointed to them. Turning around, Ron followed her gaze and a smile spread over his face.

"Look over there," he said, taking her arm and directing it to the source of the stars -- a young couple sitting under a willow tree. The boy had created the magical stars in what appeared to be an attempt to impress his date. It had apparently worked, because the girl had her hands over her mouth in admiration. "See?" Ron said gently. "He wouldn't have half the intended effect on his date if he had done the same thing in an office."

Shaking her head slowly in wonder, Hermione quietly replied, "I think you're right."

"Aren't I always?" he teased as the two of them continued their walk.

"Modest, too," Hermione joked, slightly glad for the sudden switch back to a lighter atmosphere.

"See, you're already getting the hang of it," Ron said. "Congratulations!"

Hermione laughed. "So where are you taking me?" she asked curiously, wrapping her arms around herself a little tighter. Whether it was because of the passing time or the closing distance between them and the lake, but night was growing colder the further they walked.

"You'll see," Ron replied mysteriously. He looked over at her, then blinked in surprise when he saw her shivering. "Are you cold?" he asked.

"Yeah, thanks for noticing just now," Hermione said with a weak smile.

He made no response to his, but took off his suit jacket and gave it to her. "You can have that, I don't need it anyway," he explained when she glanced at him questioningly.

"Thanks," she said gratefully. She wrapped it around herself tightly and breathed in its scent. It smelled like peppermint mixed with chocolate - how typical of Ron.

Just then, Ron suddenly stopped, causing Hermione to almost crash into him. "We're here," he said. Without another word, he pulled out his wand and whispered, "_Accio Firebolts_." Hermione watched on with a growing dread as she realized what they were going to do.

"No, Ron, we can't--"

She stopped mid-sentence when she saw the two Firebolts streak over to them and land with a soft _thump_ at her feet. The one closest to her gave a small wiggle, as if it was suggesting that she climb on it right away.

"We're going for a little ride," he said with a grin. Leaning down, he picked up one of the broomsticks and swung a leg over it. "Come on, grab the other one."

"Ronald Weasley!" exclaimed Hermione, placing her hands on her hips. "You know perfectly well that I can't ride a broomstick to save my life!"

"Oh come on, I thought we were going to loosen up!" he said with pout. "That means taking risks, if you need a definition."

Hermione stuck her chin up stubbornly and replied, "No. I refuse to ride on that broomstick."

Ron heaved a sigh, then answered, "Fine. Then climb on this one."

"What!" Hermione shrieked, her mouth dropping open. "No _way_, riding on my own broomstick is bad enough, but I refuse to sit two people on one broom. We could _die_, Ron! We could--"

She stopped when she noticed him standing there with a smirk on his face. "So you're too scared to do this?" he suggested. "I mean, if you're too scared, then that's fine. I'll go on my own. But wow, who would've known...brave Hermione Granger, too afraid to ride a broomstick..."

Hermione gritted her teeth. _He's provoking you! He's using reverse psychology!_ a little part of her mind insisted. _Don't do what he says!_ However, she ignored the logical part of herself for once and said firmly, "I'm not too scared. I'll do it."

He punched his fist into the air and let out a yell of success. "I knew I'd get you to do it," he said gleefully. "Hop on."

Gulping, Hermione positioned herself in front of Ron and swung a trembling leg over the broomstick. She closed her eyes and barely had time to make a silent prayer that she would survive the ride before Ron wrenched the Firebolt upward and they had taken off

Hermione screamed out loud the moment the rush of the wind hit her. It took her a full minute before she could adjust to the feeling of soaring through the air with nothing but a broomstick underneath her and Ron behind her, but as soon as she did, her terror was replaced by pure exhilaration.

"This is amazing," she gasped, as Ron dipped down toward the lake, so close that she was able to reach out a hand and run it through the water.

"What did you say?" yelled Ron from behind her.

"I said, this is amazing!" she called, raising her voice in order to be heard over the roar of the wind. "I've never experienced something like this!"

"I told you, staying inside all the time has its disadvantages!" he yelled as he pulled out of the semi-dive, creating the impression that they were soaring up to the moon. He gripped the broomstick more tightly and pulled Hermione close to him in order to keep the both of them from falling off, then straightened the broom so that they were half-hovering, half-drifting 50 feet above the lake.

"Oh...Oh my..." Hermione said as she struggled to regain her breath.

"Did you like it?" Ron asked with a grin.

Feeling rather lightheaded, Hermione replied with a giggle, "I loved it! I can barely even think straight right now, that was indescribable."

"Is that so?" he asked, his voice suddenly losing its joking tone.

Hermione nodded, and turned around to see what had brought about the serious manner again. She was surprised to see that he was looking straight at her, his eyes shining more brightly than ever. "What do you--?" she started to say.

He cut her off by placing a finger over her lips. "Then you won't mind if I..." His voice trailed off as he placed his hand on her back and pulled her close to him. "...do this," he finished. Before Hermione could even come up with something to say, Ron leaned forward and gently touched his lips to hers.


End file.
